What do you love to do? I love to read the Bible and write poetry, but neither job provides a livable income, which most of us need.
In Matthew 6:5, 24, Jesus taught us about doing what we love: "When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in synagogues and on street corners so that everyone sees them. Truly, I say to you that they’ve received their reward. No one can serve two lords, for either you will hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon."
"Mammon" sounds like an archaic way of saying man, but the word has to do with riches, stored up or hoarded. Either way, the saying remains true: We cannot aim to please God while striving to impress other people or straining under the weight of material things. Neither can we push our way through crowded streets to seize the best positions for ourselves then expect a camera-posed stance under a streetlight to radiate pure motives for serving God.
Jesus was not speaking against fame and fortune or even finding ourselves in a spotlight. He was just letting us know that, if we want to follow His way of love, we need to examine our heart, soul, mind, and motives before pouring our strength and energy into any job or goal. That even applies if the job we love most means spending our whole day in prayer!
Prayer: LORD, You have given us a special mix of talents, interests, and experiences to use in some way. Help us to use our gifts Your Way! Help us to find the employment we need to provide for ourselves and our families and still employ our time and talents for Your Kingdom Way of Love. Whether we teach, preach, sing, sell well-made merchandise, build solid houses, fix leaky faucets, or write poems, show us how to allow whatever we do for a living to serve Your Way of Life.
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©2012, Mary Sayler, all rights reserved. For articles, prayers, and devotionals on other Bible topics, see Blogs by Mary. May God bless you and the work you've been given to do in Jesus’ Name.
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